Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on health systems in most countries, and in particular, on the mental health and well-being of health workers on the frontlines of pandemic response efforts. The purpose of this article is to provide an evidence-based overview of the adverse mental health impacts on healthcare workers during times of crisis and other challenging working conditions and to highlight the importance of prioritizing and protecting the mental health and well-being of the healthcare workforce, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. First, we provide a broad overview of the elevated risk of stress, burnout, moral injury, depression, trauma, and other mental health challenges among healthcare workers. Second, we consider how public health emergencies exacerbate these concerns, as reflected in emerging research on the negative mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers. Further, we consider potential approaches for overcoming these threats to mental health by exploring the value of practicing self-care strategies, and implementing evidence based interventions and organizational measures to help protect and support the mental health and well-being of the healthcare workforce. Lastly, we highlight systemic changes to empower healthcare workers and protect their mental health and well-being in the long run, and propose policy recommendations to guide healthcare leaders and health systems in this endeavor. This paper acknowledges the stressors, burdens, and psychological needs of the healthcare workforce across health systems and disciplines, and calls for renewed efforts to mitigate these challenges among those working on the frontlines during public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
With the emergence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in late 2019, and the World Health Organization declaring it a global pandemic on 11th March 2020, health systems in many countries have been at times overwhelmed and stretched past their limits in terms of capacity and resources while striving toward continued delivery of quality care
The challenges for health systems, further complicated by the emergence of new more infectious variants of the virus, are likely to persist— even though infection rates have decreased in many parts of the world and the vaccine roll out progresses at a rapid pace at the time of writing this article—because we are facing a second and serious pandemic of mental health challenges
We provide a broad overview of the elevated risk of stress, burnout, moral injury, and mental health challenges experienced among health workers
Summary
With the emergence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in late 2019, and the World Health Organization declaring it a global pandemic on 11th March 2020, health systems in many countries have been at times overwhelmed and stretched past their limits in terms of capacity and resources while striving toward continued delivery of quality care. We provide a broad overview of the elevated risk of stress, burnout, moral injury, and mental health challenges experienced among health workers. Burnout is defined as an occupational phenomenon in ICD-11: “Burnout is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed It is characterized by three dimensions: [1] feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; [2] increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and [3] reduced professional efficacy. Overall, according to the World Medical Association “physicians in many countries are experiencing great frustration in practicing their profession, whether because of limited resources, government and/or corporate micro-management of healthcare delivery, sensationalist media reports of medical errors and unethical physician conduct, or challenges to their authority and skills by patients and other health care providers” [46]. Other subgroups of healthcare workers face similar frustrations and challenges
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
